Little Women (1994)

IMDb plot summary: The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.

Directed by Gillian Armstrong. Starring Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado, and Samantha Mathis.

I finally saw the version of Little Women that all my peers loved growing up. At its best, the story oozes warmth and welcome and a strong sense of family love despite ups and downs, and this definitely hits all those notes. The cast is all good, with special nods to Winona Ryder as Jo and Susan Sarandon as their mother. I think I am realizing however, after watching both this and the Greta Gerwig version this year, that this just isn't a story that resonates with me. I don't relate particularly well to any of the characters, it doesn't spark bigger ideas within me, no iteration of it unveils new layers, and on the whole it works for me better as a cozy mindless watch than as something that actually draws me in. And it always has that weird anti-genre-fiction thread running through it. There's nothing to complain about here, really - it's a solid, warm, cozy movie but nothing much beyond that.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Little Women > 12 Monkeys

Little Women < Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

Little Women < The Terminal

Little Women > Three Colors: Red

Little Women > Children of Paradise

Little Women > The Theory of Everything

Little Women > Mother Night

Little Women < Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Little Women < Ben-Hur

Little Women < The Chorus

Little Women < The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

Little Women < Mr. Holmes

Final spot: #1234 out of 3223, or 62%.